The North Carolina General Assembly has
adjourned without repealing a controversial law that targets the LGBT
community.

House Bill 2 has been under fire since
it was approved in March during a one-day special session. The law
blocks cities from enacting LGBT protections and prohibits
transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice in
government buildings, including schools.

Passage led to canceled conventions and
concerts and even job losses for the state.

Republican lawmakers did address a
portion of the law that had stripped away workers' right to file a
claim of discrimination in state courts. However, lawmakers
shortened the statute of limitations from three years to one and
refused to expand the list of protected classes to include sexual
orientation or gender identity.

State Representative Grier Martin, a
Democrat from Raleigh, called the change “the lowest of the
low-hanging fruit.”

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, expressed disappointment that
the law remained mostly in place.

“Legislators shamefully walked away
from their job today without fixing the deeply harmful and outrageous
mess they created with HB2,” said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice
president for policy and political affairs at HRC. “HB2 puts LGBTQ
people in harm's way every single day it remains on the books and has
cost the state not only its reputation but millions of dollars. Let
me be clear: this is not over and they will be held to account.
Lawmakers may have run out the clock on this short session, but they
won't be able to run away from North Carolina's voters in November.”